S70 



1:0MMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION 



ACTIVITIES 



nSH^IlfilHlH 



PUBLIC INFORMATION 



THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



WAR INFORMATION SERIES 



No^t^XA 



.5t 



February, 1918 



The Activities of the 



Public Information 




/'^' ISSUED BY 

The Committee on Public Information 

The secretary OF STATE 
THE SECRETARY OF WAR 
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY 
GEORGE CREEL 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : lOIS. 



J2 ^70 



EXECUTIVE ORDER 

I hereby create a Committee on Public Information, to be composed 
of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the 
Navy, and a civilian who shall be charged with the executive direction 
of the committee. 

As civilian chairman of the committee I appoint Mr. George Creel. 

The Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of 
the Navy are authorized each to detail an ofiicer or officers to the work 
of the committee. 

WooDRow Wilson. 

Apeil 14, 1917. 

(2) 



ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION 



The White House, 
W ashing ton, January 11^^ 1918. 
My Dear Mr. Creel : I have just finished reading the report of 
the Committee on Public Information which you were kind enoi.gh 
to bring nie last week, and I want to say how much it has gratified 
me and how entirely the work being done by the committee meets 
with my approval. I have kept in touch with that work, piece by 
piece, as you know, in our several interviews, but had not realized 
its magnitude when assembled in a single statement. 

I feel confident that as the work of the committee progresses it 
will more and more win the public approval and confidence. 
Cordially and sincerely, yours, 

WooDROw Wilson. 
Hon. George Creel, 

Chairman C ommittee on Puhlic Information. 



Committee on Public Information, 

Washington, D. C, January 7, 1918. 
The President, 

The White House. 

My Dear Mr. President: As will be seen by the accompanying 
report, the Committee on Public Information has grown to be a 
world organization. Not only does it touch every part of the great 
machinery that coordinates the forces of America for victory, but it 
carries the meanings and purposes of America to all peoples, making 
the fight for public opinion in every country. 

Besides the daily war news, which it issues to the whole press of 
the country, it supplies some 30,000 newspapers with feature articles, 
a w^eekly news service, and governmental publicity material of all 
sorts. 

It has prepared and printed for distribution to all parts of the 
world 18,000,000 copies of 15 different pamphlets in seven languages. 

It conducts speaking campaigns in every State of the Union, ar- 
ranges meetings, books speakers, conducts war conferences, and 
organizes tours; and in the Four Minute' Men alone it commands 
the volunteer services of 15,000 public speakers. 

It has wireless and cable news service that is being extended to 
every capital in Europe, Scandinavia, the Orient, South and Central 
America, and Mexico, and a feature- article service of similar pro- 
portions. 

(3) 



It sends to foreign conntries motion-picture exhibits showing 
America's social, industrial, and war progress. 

It has mobilized the aclvertising forces of the country — press, 
periodical, car, and outdoor — for a patriotic campaign that will 
give $30,000,000 worth of free space to the national service. 

It designs posters, window cards, and similar material of pic- 
torial publicity for the use of various Government departments and 
patriotic societies. 

It prepares moving-picture films showing our war progress and 
exhibits them to hundreds of thousands of people daily. 

It issues an official daily newspaper for the Government, with a 
circulation of 90,000 copies a day. 

With the aid of a volunteer staff of several hundred translators, it 
keeps in direct touch with the foreign-language press, supplying 
selected articles designed to combat ignorance and disaffection. 

It has organized, and now directs, a round dozen of societies and 
leagues designed to appeal to certain classes and particular foreign- 
language groups, each body carrying a specific message to its sec- 
tion of America's adopted peoples. 

It acts as a bureau of information for all persons who seek its 
direction in volunteer war work, in acquiring knowledge of any ad- 
ministrative activities, or in approaching business dealings with the 
Government. 

It supervises the voluntary censorship at the newspaper and pan ■ 
odical press. 

It establishes rules and regulations for the cable censorship with 
respect to press dispatches. 

It prepares and distributes, advises upon, and censors photographs 
and moving pictures to the number of more than 700 a day. 

It has only 250 paid employees, but it directs and coordinates the 
patriotic work of 5,000 volunteer writers and artists and 20,000 
public speakers. 

To carry on its multifarious activities in the United States, it has 
spent from its beginning in April, 1917, down to December 31, 1917, 
$119,821.96 for salaries and $325,713.20 for all its other expenses. 

This remarkable showing has been made possible by the generous 
cooperation of patriotic groups and individuals, the sacrifice of 
volunteer workers, and the devotion of others in accepting service 
at half the salary received in private employment. 

It is not an economy, however, that can be or should be main- 
tained. I can assure you that the country, as a whole, is behind the 
war, but in every section there is a vast amount of ignorance and 
misunderstanding that may possibly fester and inflame. Forces of 
dissension and disloyalty are steadily at work, and particularly is 
this true among the foreign population. We shall not discharge 
our full duty to the national defense until we have reached every 
community in the United States by written or spoken word or mo- 
tion picture; until every individual, native, naturalized, or alien, 
has it seared into his consciousness that this war is a war of self- 
defense, and that it has got to be master of his every thought 'and 
action. 

Our greatest need, however, is in other lands. England and France 
attach prime importance to educational and informative campaigns, 



and Germany, I am credibly informed, spent $3,000,000 a month in 
Eussia alone. For years the United States has been known to the rest 
of the world through dribbles of information supplied by foreign 
news agencies, and as the result there is not a country that has any 
exact or comprehensive idea of American life, activity, or ideals. 
This ignorance has lent itself with peculiar effect to the lies of the 
enemy, and there is no work more important than this fight for 
better understanding and a more intelligent public opinion. 

Much has been done, but it can only be regarded as experimental. 
Machinery has been created and tested, and we are now able to com- 
mence 100 per cent operation in all confidence. It is for this that I 
ask sanction. There is no detail in connection with these activities 
that we shall be ashamed to reveal. No paper will be subsidized, 
no official bought, and no corruption employed. 

From a thousand sources we hear of the wonders of German prop- 
aganda, but my original determination has never altered. A]wm3^s 
do I try to find out what the Germans are doing, and then I don't 
do it. Even if the very loftiness of our war aims did not command 
honesty at every point, I have the conviction that corrupt methods 
work their own destruction. 

Eussia is a case in point. For years, first secretly and at last quite 
openly, Germany had poisoned the people with lies, yet within the 
short space of a few months our own open publicity campaign was 
able to work a fundamental change in public sentiment. We do not 
argue or exhort or censure, but confine all activities to a plain, 
straightforward presentation of our aims, our purposes, and ou^r 
ideals. We have nothing to fear from the truth ; it can be made our 
principal weapon. 

May I ask that you permit me to have copies of this report printed 
and sent to the press? A policy that is absolutely open will preclude 
confidential arrangements, to be sure, but it is best to forego a cer- 
tain percentage of effort rather than that the whole should be weak- 
ened and impaired by suspicions and distrusts. 
Eespectfully, 

George Ceeel, Chairman. 

Edgar G. Sisson, Associate Chairman. 



THE VOLUNTEES CENSORSHIP. 

Despite general opinion, censorship plays but a small part in the 
work of the committee. 

The desires of the Government with respect to the concealment from 
the enemy of military policies, plans, and movements are set forth 
in certain specific requests. No law stands behind them. Their ob- 
servance rests entirely upon honor and patriotism. There are viola- 
tions, as a matter of course, and papers holding to the unwritten 
agreement have suffered injury from papers less careful and less 
honest, but, on the whole, the press has responded in the same spirit 
of unselfish service that animates the firing line. 

The continuing weak spot is due to a persistent misunderstanding 
in the matter of regulation. When a violation occurs, such papers 
as have observed the agreement straightway demand that rebuke be 



6 

administered or penalty inflicted. Yet on the printed card that 
carries the desires of the Government there appears this significant 
paragraph : 

These requests go to the press without larger authority than the necessities 
of the war-making branches. Their enforcement is a matter for the press itself. 

The bargain is the bargain of the press, and it must of necessity 
provide its own discipline. As it is realized, however, that the re- 
quests of the Government are concerned with human lives and national 
hopes, as it is driven home that the passing satisfaction of a news 
item may endanger a transport or a troop train, the voluntary cen- 
sorship grows in strength and certainty. 



WHAT THE GOVERNMENT ASKS OF THE PRESS. 

.-> 

The desires of the Government with respect to the concealment 
from the enemy of military policies, plans, and movements are set 
forth in the following specific requests. They go to the press of the 
United States directly from the Secretary of War and the Secretary 
of the Navy and represent the thought and advice of their technical 
advisers. They do not apply to news dispatches censored by mili- 
tary authority with the expeditionary forces or in those cases where 
the Government itself, in the form of official statements, may find it 
necessary or expedient to make public information covered by these 
requests. 

For the protection of our military and naval forces and of mer- 
chant shipping it is requested that secrecy be observed in all mat- 
ters of: 

1. Advance information of the routes and schedules of troop move- 
ments. (See par. 5^) 

2. Information tending to disclose- the number of troops in the 
expeditionary forces abroad. 

3. Information caleulated to disclose the location of the permanent 
base or bases abroad. \ , 

4. Information that would disclose the location of American units 
or the eventual position of the American forces at the front. 

5. Information tending to disclose an eventual or actual port of 
embarkation; or information of the movement of military forces, 
toward seaports or of the assembling of military forces at seaports 
from which inference might be drawn of any intention to embark 
them for service abroad ; and information of the assembling of trans- 
ports or convoys ; and information of the embarkation itself. 

6. Information of the arrival at any European port of American 
war vessels, transports, or any portion of any expeditionary force, 
combatant or noncombatant. 

7. Information of the time of departure of merchant ships from 
American or European ports, or information of the ports from which 
they sailed, or information of their cargoes. 

8. Information indicating the port of arrival of incoming ships 
from European ports or after their arrival indicating, or hinting at, 
the port at which the ship arrived. 

9. Information as to convoys and as to the sighting of friendly or 
enemy ships, whether naval or merchant. 



10. Information of the locality, number, or identity of vessels be- 
longing to our own Navy or to the navies of any country at war with 
Germany. 

11. Information of the coast or anti-aircraft defenses of the United 
States. Any information of their very existence, as well as the num- 
ber, nature, or position of their guns, is dangerous. 

12. Information of the laying of mines or mine fields or of any 
harbor defenses. 

If}. Information of the aircraft and appurtenances used at Gov- 
ernment aviation schools for experimental tests under military au- 
thority, and information of contracts and production of air mate- 
rial, and information tending to disclose the numbers and organiza- 
tion of the air division, excepting when authorized by the. Committee 
on Public Information. 

14. Information of all Government devices and experiments in war 
material, excepting when authorized by the Committee on Public 
Information. 

15. Information of secret notices issued to mariners or other con- 
fidential instructions issued by the Navy or the Department of Com- 
merce relating to lights, lightships, buoys, or other guides to 
navigation. 

16. Information as to the number, size, character, or location of 
ships of the Navy ordered laid down at any port or shipyard, or in 
actual process of construction ; or information that they are launched 
or in commission. 

IT. Information of the train or boat schedules of traveling official 
missions in transit through the United States. 

18. Information of the transportation of munitions or of war 
material. 

Photographs. — Photographs conveying the information specified 
above should not be published. 

These requests go to the press without larger authority than the 
necessities of the war-making branches. Their enforcement is a mat- 
ter for the press itself. To the overwhelming proportion of news- 
papers who have given unselfish, patriotic adherence to the voluntary 
agreement, the Government extends its gratitude and high apprecia- 
tion. 

Committee on Public Information, 

By George Creel, Chairman, 

January 1, 1918. 

DIVISION OF HEWS. 

Director, J. W. McConaugliy. 

The committee, at the time of its appointment, had as its chief pur- 
pose the coordination and control of the daily news of military opera- 
tions given out by the Army and Navy. The work is now being done 
by the Division of News. It is the sole medium for the issuance of 
official war information, and now acts not only for the Army and 
Navy but for the Department of Justice, the Council of National 
Defense, the War Industries Board, the War Trade Board, and the 
Alien Property Custodian. It has its sworn representatives in the 
war-making branches of the Government, trained newspaper men, 



8 

whose duty it is to open up operations to the inspection of the people 
as far as military prudence will permit. The committee believes 
that public supjjort is a matter of public understanding, and it is the 
duty of the division to take deadwood out of the channels of infor- 
mation, permitting a freer, more continuous flow. This is not the 
simplest thing in the world.' On one hand is the press, impatient of 
reticence and suspicious of concealments, and on the other hand we 
have generals' and admirals reared in a school of iron silence. Both, 
however, are in process of education. The press is conmaencing to 
realize our honesty of purpose, and the military experts are growing 
to have an increasing faitliin the power of absolute frankness. The 
Army and Navy, through this Division of News, have pledged them- 
selves to give to the people instant and honest announcement of all 
casualties, all accidents, all disasters. We do not have to conceal 
reverses because we do not have to fear for the courage of America. 

In the progi'ess of this work the division has formed several inde- 
pendent departments whose business it is to supply specialized needs 
of various sorts. About 14,000 country newspapers are being fur- 
nished a weekly service of condensed war news of two or three col- 
umns in length. About 2,000 papers in the smaller cities will soon 
be receiving a similar service. The matter is sent largely in plate 
form, the newspapers bearing the expense of plate and ready print. 

The News Division is organized to render its service day and 
night. There are 17 paid employees. It has spent $25,422.74 for 
salaries and $2,125.52 for all other expenses. 



DIVISION OF CIVIC AND EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION. 

Director, Guy Stanton Ford, 
Dean of the Graduate School, University of Minnesota. 

The Division of Civic and Educational Cooperation prepares pam- 
phlets upon the war for world-wide circulation. It commands the 
voluntary services of more than 3,000 writers, chiefly college profes- 
sors, historians, and publicists. It has now issued 15 different pam- 
phlets setting forth America's side of the controversy that led to the 
war, explaining this country's objects and methods in prosecuting 
the war, and exposing the enemy's misrepresentations, aggressions, 
and malpractices. Up to December 31, 1917, the following pam- 
phlets had been printed : 

Red, White, and Blue Series": 

How the War Came to America — Copies. 

English 4, 533, 250 

German 237,500 

Bohemian 70, 750 

Polish 80,000 

Italian 97, 800 

Spanish 14, 500 

Swedish : 30,000 

National Service Handbook 148, 360 

Battle Line of Democracy 9, 980 

The President's Flag-Day Address 5, 927, 000 

Conquest and Kultur 100, 000 

German War Practices, Part I 100, 000 



War Information Series: Copies. 

War Message and Facts Behind It 1, 658, 250 

Tlie Nation in Arms 1, 052^ 500 

Government of Germany 1^ 053^ 000 

Tlie Great War : From Spectator to Participant 1, 098, 000 

A War of Self-Defense 715, 600 

American Loyalty, by American Citizens of German Descent 278, 000 

American Loyalty (German translation of above) 337,500 

American Interest in Popular Government Abroad 489, 000 

Home Reading Course for Citizen Soldiers 251, 000 

First Session of War Congress 271, 900 

Total IS, 553, 890 

This total does not take account of hundreds of thousands of copies 
printed and distributed by corporations and individuals at their own 
cost. And the number, while seemingly large, may not be considered 
as other than a preliminary distribution. The United States must be 
covered, and foreign countries have just commenced to be touched. 
From now on our deliveries will average 100,000 a day. 

The following pamphlets are now in press : 

German Treatment of Conquered Territory : Part II of " German War 

Practices." 
The German War Code : Contrasted with the war manuals of the United States, 

Great Britain, and France. 
German Militarism and its German Critics : Covering the Rosa Luxemburg 

trial and the Zabern incident. 
Why Labor Supports the War. By John R. Commons. 
War Cyclopedia : A handbook for ready reference on the Great War. 

The following are some of the publications which are in course of 
preparation : 

Neutral Europe and the U-Boat. 

The President's Reply to the Pope : German, Spanish, and Portuguese trans- 
lations. 

Thinking It Through. By Prof. Charles Beard. 

Pan-Germanisii and America : Spanish and Portuguese translations of section 
14 of "Conquest and Kultur." 

War Organizations : A description of the powers, purposes, and controlling 
personnel of special war organizations. 

The War rob Peace : Expressions of pacifists on the issues of the war. Edited 
by Arthur D. Call, editor of the Advocate of Peace. 

Gerjian Intrigues as a System. By S. S. McClure, E. E. Sperry, Wallace 
Notestein, Samuel Hopkins Adams. 

Syllabus for the Study of the War : For schools, colleges, and clubs. 

American and Allied Ideals. 

Why America Fights GERjrANY. 

The division has had the assistance of 40 or 50 college men, all 
giving their services as unpaid volunteers, with the exception of about 
10, whose expenses were. paid during the period of a few weeks each 
in which they stayed in Washington. Besides these, cooperation has 
been given by the National Board of Historical Service, through 
which body literature has been distributed for study in schools and 
colleges. 

The Historical Board, at the instance of the division, is also stimu- 
lating the study of the war by teachers, pupils, and communities by 
means of a series of prizes for essays by teachers; arranging the 
publication of some 40 articles dealing with the teaching of history 
in the four main fields, with special reference to the war; and pre- 
paring to give in each cantonment a series of six lectures on the 
historical and geographical backgrounds of the war. 
41505°— IS 2 



10 

Six great associations of universities and colleges, through their 
officers, are cooperating to distribute to their faculties and students 
the publications of the division. The work is taking on such large 
proportions that it has been placed in the special charge of Dean Olin 
Templin of the Universit}'^ of Kansas, the complete idea being to 
mobilize the country's great institutions of learning. 

Through the Bureau of Education and the State superintendents, 
teachers of public schools are receiving the division's publications to- 
gether with directions as to how they may be obtained for use in the 
classes. The Boy Scouts are being used as a distributing agency, and 
a plan is nearing completion that will make every rural free-delivery 
carrier a distributor. Through these agencies millions of pupils and 
homes will be reached. Summer sessions, teachers' institutes, and 
similar gatherings were used in the summer of 1917 to bring before 
those in attendance both the division's literature and the national 
cause by lectures and addresses. 

Other organizations assisting in effective distribution are the De- 
partment of Agriculture, the American Federation of Labor, the 
Department of State, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, 
the Young Men's Christian Association National War Council, the 
American Library Association, the State defense councils. Members 
of both Houses of Congress, and the political parties. Besides the 
usual newspaper notices given when pamphlets have been released, 
the last two. Conquest and Kultur and German War Practices, as 
well as the Flag Day Speech (with annotations) and the War Mes- 
sage (with annotations) have been published serially in many papers 
throughout the country. 

The division has eight paid employees. It has spent to December 
31, 1917, $8,563.37 for salaries, and for printing, distribution, and 
all other expenses, outside of salaries, $104,539.20. 



DIVISION OF SYNDICATE FEATURES. 

Director, L. Ames Brown. 

This division collects and issues informative and educational war 
articles. Some 50 American authors and as many college presidents 
and professors have volunteered for the work without pay. The 
division has been releasing a series of weekly articles by Samuel 
Hopkins Adams, Ellis Parker Butler, Booth Tarkington, Meredith 
Nicholson, Harvey O'Higgins, Herbert Quick, John Spargo, William 
English Walling, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Wallace Irwin, Richard 
Washburn Child, Samuel Merwin, Rowland G. Usher, Ralph D. 
Paine, Martha Bensley Bruere, Edward Mott Wooley, John Reed 
Scott, Prof. John Erskine, Prof. Eugene Davenport, Crittenden 
Marriott, James H. Collins, J?imes M. Beck, Virginia Frazer Boyle, 
and many others. Some 75 important articles have been put out in 
the two months that the division has been at work, and this service 
has been given to more than 2,000 Saturday and Sunday papers in 
every part of the country. 

The division has only three paid employees. It has spent to 
December 31, 1917, $2,613.88 for salaries and $2,781.15 for all its 
other expenses. 



11 

DIVISION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE NEWSPAPERS. 
Director, William ChurcMll. 

The Division of Foreign Language Newspapers, working with 289 
volunteer translators, follows closely every newspaper not printed in 
English, and serves the needs of the Department of Justice and the 
Post Office Department. Its more positive function, however, is con- 
cerned with the translation of pamphlets into the various languages 
and the preparation of editorial and news matter for publication in 
the foreign-language press of the United States. Particular atten- 
tion is paid to the enemy-language press, and thousands of columns 
of patriotic matter have been printed as a result of its activities. 
The division also reads the papers received from Germany and 
Switzerland and supplies digests and verbatim translations to the 
Division of News and the Division of Syndicate Features. 

The division has nine paid employees. It has spent $3,246.64 for 
salaries and $347.68 on all other expenses. 



THE OFFICIAL BULLETIN. 

Editor, E. S. Rochester. 

The Official Bulletin is issued to assure the full and legal publica- 
tion of all official announcements of Government heads in the course 
of governmental business. A free list was established by Executive 
order. It includes every Member of the House of Representatives 
and the United States Senate, the Supreme Court, the heads of all 
Government departments, the judiciary of the country, the mayor 
of every city, the governor of every State, all chambers of commerce 
and boards of trade, all colleges and universities, all libraries, every 
officer in the United States Army and every officer in the United 
States Navy, every post office in the United States, every daily news- 
paper, all large magazines, all Washington newspaper correspond- 
ents, the State councils of defense, art, literary and scientific bodies, 
and other bodies and committees, connected directly or indirectlj- 
with the Government of the United States. 

A prohibitive subscription price of $5 a year Avas fixed for the 
general public so that the Bulletin might not be accused of com- 
peting with the private enterprise of newspaper publications. Never- 
theless, the amount received from subscriptions increased from 
$1,644.20 in the month of May to $2,522.35 in the month of November. 
During the month of November, 1917, 2,240,000 copies, averaging 
90,000 a day, were mailed to all parts of the world. Many thousand 
copies of back numbers have been reprinted on demand. A complete 
topical index, from May 10 to December 31, is being prepared for 
publication as a supplement in January. 

All the work of publishing the Bulletin is clone by an editor, an 
associate editor, a copy reader, two reporters, six clerks, and four 
messengers. 

The Bulletin has cost the Government $10,163.77 in salaries up to 
December 31, 1917, and $103,399.52 for printing and all other 
expenses. 

Against this it balances circulation receipts amounting to 
.$15,594.47. 



12 

DIVISION OF WOMEN'S WAR WOEK. 

Director, Mrs. Clara Sears Taylor. 

The division of Women's War Work was established November 1, 
1917, to encourage the war activities of the women of America and 
to act as a clearing house for information concerning their service. 
It collects news and writes articles about the work of American 
women in the war and issues this matter not only by wire but in a 
weekly feature service to 9,000 newspapers. It has prepared and 
distributed 75 such articles during the month of November. It main- 
tains contact with 32 war boards and women's organizations in Wash- 
ington and assists them in their publicity. It keeps a reference 
department of war work for the use of women. It reports public 
meetings, obtains interviews, and collates news of war activities 
among the women here and abroad for purposes of education and 
direction. 

It has a staff of eight paid employees. It has spent $1,090.04: for 
salaries and $450.25 for other expenses. 



DIVISION OF FOTJE MINUTE MEN. 
Director, William McCormick Blair. 

This division manages over 15,000 volunteer public speakers who 
address moving-picture audiences during intermissions. There are 
State chairmen in every State of the Union and Territorial chairmen 
in Alaska and Hawaii. Under the State chairmen there are more 
than 3,000 local chairmen directing the campaigns in their districts. 
The office expenses of State and local organizations are paid either 
by State councils of defense or by subscriptions of private citizens. 
The State and Territorial chairmen receive Government salaries of 
$1 a month. There is also a national advisory council of five mem- 
bers in various parts of the country who serve at a salary of $1 a 
month each. 

• Speaking campaigns have been conducted on the following sub- 
jects : 

The Liberty Loan, May 22 to June 15, 1917. 

The Red Cross Hundred Million Dollar Campaign, June IS to 25. 

Food Conservation, July 1 to 14. 

Why We Are Fighting, July 23 to August 5. 

The Nation in Arms, August 6 to 26. 

What Our Enemy Really Is, August 27 to September 23. 

Unmasking German Propaganda, August 27 to September 23, supple- 
mentary topic. 

Onward to Victory, September 24 to October 7. 

The Second Liberty Loan of 1917, October 8 to 28. 

The Food Pledge Card Campaign, October 29 to November 4. 

Maintaining Morals and Morale, November 12 to 25. 

Carrying the Message, with supplement entitled " Facts," November 26 
to December 22. 

The subjects are assigned by the director in Washington, who mails 
to the local chairmen bulletins of instructions with budgets of mate- 
rial containing the facts necessary for the preparation of an effective 



13 

:speech. More than 100,000 have been distributed. Secretary of 
War Baker and Maj. Gen. Biddle, Acting Chief of Staff, have asked 
that the bulletins be sent to camp commanders as an aid to the 
officers in their talks to the men. 

The Four Minute Men of the average town are the leading patri- 
otic citizens of the community. They reach the " all- American " 
audiences of the popular movies. Their speakers are continually 
supervised and reported upon in order to insure their efficiency in 
presenting their subjects and interesting their audiences. 

This division has 15 paid employees. It has cost the Government 
$5,705.69 in salaries up to December 31, 1917, and $12,813.34 for all 
other expenses. 

DIVISION OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. 
Director, Arthur E. Bestor, 

President of Chautauqua Institute. 

The Division of Public Speaking was formed to coordinite the 
■^efforts of a dozen or more national speakers' bureaus by establishing 
a sort of central clearing house for speaking campaigns, so that 
duplication of effort and overlapping of territory might be avoided. 
On the advisory committee are representatives of the Council of 
National Defense, Department of the Interior, National Community 
Center Association, Department of Labor, International Lyceum 
Association, International Association of Kotary Clubs, American 
Red Cross, National Committee of Patriotic and Defense Societies, 
National Security League, Association of Collegiate Alumnae, War 
Department Commission on Training Camp Activities, Young Men's 
Christian Association, War Council Committee on Lectures and 
Entertainments, American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, Church 
Peace Union, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, League 
to Enforce Peace, Department of Agriculture, Open Forum Council, 
and Food Administration. 

The division has three chief activities. It fills requests for speak- 
ers and has approximately 300 noted volunteers on its lists. It routes 
throughout the country speakers of national and international repu- 
tation. And most important of all, it conducts State conferences 
to organize State campaigns, to determine local platform needs, 
and to cooperate with all State agencies in finding audiences and 
educating them in war-time problems. 

To this end the division is organizing in each State a committee 
composed of representatives of the State council of defense. State 
division of the woman's committee. Extension Division of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, State department of education, extension 
division of the State university. State department of labor. State 
community organizer, chairman of the Four Minute Men, Federal 
Food Administrator, and all patriotic societies that have carried on 
effective speaking campaigns or have ready-made audiences. 

The great aim of these campaigns is to reach the citizens of the 
smaller communities, particularly the farmer and the laborer, so as 
to bring home the meaning of the war to the whole country, to 



14 

educate even the most isolated communities in their patriotic duties, 
and to unite them in war-time work. 

The work of the division is done by eight paid employees. It has 
spent $2,306.57 for salaries and $1,383.84 for all other expenses. 



DIVISION OF PICTURES. 

Director, Lawrence E. Rubel. 

The Division of Pictures issues permits for the taking of photo- 
graphs of Government activities, decides what pictures may be pub- 
lished under the voluntary censorship, and distributes oJSicial photo- 
graphs, drawings, pictorial records, motion pictures. War and Navy 
Department films and war films taken under the jurisdiction of 
foreign governments. 

The division has arranged with representatives of the French 
Government for the exclusive issue of the French official war pic- 
tures. A like arrangement for the British official war photographs 
is now being made. 

The division is aiding the distribution of still pictures by making 
them available to post-card manufacturers, calendar manufacturers,, 
and art-goods manufacturers, and by selling them to schools, col- 
leges, societies, and individuals at a nominal price. Sets of stere- 
opticon slides are being prepared for the use of ministers, patriotic 
societies, lecturers, etc., and these sets will be put out with but a 
small charge to cover cost and breakage. 

The distribution of official motion pictures is made by the Ameri- 
can Red Cross, to whom the profits accrue. 

The established motion-picture weeklies, however, are entitled to 
buy a certain amount of official film each week. The photographic 
syndicate industry has formed a board of representatives to deal 
with the Division of Pictures. A board of editors of the art sections 
of the New York papers has been formed for the same purpose. The 
division has also formed a committee of editors of the motion-picture 
weeklies, so that this great machinery of publicity is virtually at the 
committee's call. 

It is a tribute to the patriotism of the photographic and motion- 
picture industries that this division, without a law of any kind be- 
hind it, enforces a censorship more effective than any in force in any 
other belligerent country. No request has ever heen ignored. 

The men and women in the division have all made financial sac- 
rifices to work for the Government. There are eight paid em- 
ployees. The division has spent $2,113.53 for salaries and $550.2& 
for all other expenses. Against this it balances receipts amounting 
to $2,493.56, and from now on should be self-supporting. 



DIVISION OF FILMS. 
Director, Louis W. Mack. 

This division was organized to make and distribute moving pic- 
tures to inform the American people about the purposes and prog- 
ress of the Government's war activities. At first, the division had its 



15 

own staff of operators to take its photographs. Later arrangements 
were made to have this work done by the photographic division of 
the Army Signal Corps. 

Distribution is carried on through the councils of defense in the 
various States; wherever the councils of defense are unable to take 
on the extra work of the distribution it is done by various patriotic 
committees or societies in the different communities. The films are 
shown at public meetings of all sorts to half a million people a week- 
There are two kinds of service : First, the weekly service that dis- 
tributes one new subject a week of educational or propaganda value; 
second, the feature service, whose pictures, comprising an evening's 
entertainment, are wholly of a propagandist character. 
The films thus far distributed in the weekly service are: 

The 1917 Recruit, 2 editions (training of the National Army). 

The Second Liberty Loan. 

Ready for the Fight (Artillery and Cavalry maneuvers). 

Soldiers of the Sea (Marine Corps in training). 

Torpedo Boat Destroyers (naval maneuvers). 

Submarines. 

Army and Navy Sports. 

The Spirit of 1917 (the largest maneuver staged in America; an attack by the 

Jackies at Lake Bluft upon Fort Sheridan, 111.). 
In a Southern Camp (general Army maneuvers). 
The Lumber Jack (showing the growth of the Lumber Jack Regiment for recon 

struction work in Europe). 
The Medical Officers' Reserve Corps in Action (showing the development of the 

Medical Corps and training). 
Fire and Gas (showing maneuvers of the new Thirtieth Engineer Regiment). 
American Ambulances (complete display of ambulance work). 
Labor's Part in Democracy's War (labor-union activities in the war). 
Annapolis (naval officers in the making). 

There are now in process of manufacture the following: 

Ship Building (construction of all types of ships). 

Making of Big Guns. 

Making of Small Arms. 

Making of Uniforms for the Soldiers. 

Activities of the Engineers. 

Woman's Part in the War. 

Men Who are Doing Things (portraying upon the screen, as far as possible, 
every person who is mentioned in public print as being active in war prepa- 
rations). 

The Conquest of the Air (airplane and balloon maneuvers). 

The large-picture service has three pictures in the process of 
making : 

(1) The Immigrant, to be released January 1, is a direct appeal to the immi- 
grant, not only to become an American citizen but to feel his responsibility as 
a citizen. 

(2) Columbia, portraying historical events in America and the growth of the 
democratic spirit of America that is now fighting the militaristic spirit of 
Germany. 

(3) German Spies, to expose the methods of German propagandists in this 
country, to teach the public to refrain from talking carelessly, and to watch 
for those who are circulating rumors and false news. 

The scenario department is in charge of Dr. George Pierce Baker, 
It is located at Harvard University, which institution has turned over 



16 

all its facilities, and has given Dr. Baker leave of absence on pay. 
Radcliffe College, with which institution Dr. Baker is also asso- 
ciated, has extended a similar courtesy to the division. Associate'd 
with Dr. Baker are Dr. Worthipgton Ford, secretary of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society; Prof. Carver, head of the economics de- 
partment of Harvard University; and Messrs. Hollywood and Mac- 
Alarney, of the Pathe and Famous Players Companies' scenario 
departments. 

Thus far, the pictures have been quite generally used for the pur- 
pose of giving benefits for the various war activities, particularly 
to raise money for the war camp community fund. Young Men's 
Christian Association funds, and local camp funds. At one showing 
alone, in Boston, at Sym.phony Hall, with only three days' prepara- 
tion for the meeting, over $16,000 was raised for the war camp com- 
munity fund. 

All films are turned over to the Foreign Picture Service and sent 
to all countries. 

The Division of Films is not in competition with members of the 
motion-picture industry, but endeavors to cooperate with them wher- 
ever possible. Its pictures are not put in nietion-picture theaters 
except where these are especially engaged for the purposes of some 
war benefit. They are shown free, except where they are made use 
of for such benefits. Producers are encouraged to enter the field of 
making patriotic pictures, and many are taking advantage of the 
advisory functions of the scenario department. 

The division has IT paid employees. It has spent $5,226.38 for 
salaries and $15,452.22 for all other expenses. To balance this, con- 
tributions have been received from State councils and patriotic 
societies to the amount of $4,900^ — with $18,800 due in pledges. This 
division also will sustain itself in the future. 



DIVISION OF PICTORIAX. PUBLICITY. 

Director, Charles Dana Gibson. 

This division has mobilized the artists of the Nation for war serv- 
ice, and supplies every department of Government with posters, win- 
dow cards, car cards, placards, and every other form of art appeal. 
These free gifts of famous men and women run high into the thou- 
sands already. 

Mr. Gibson's associate chairmen are Herbert Adams, E. H. Blash- 
field, Cass Gilbert, and Joseph Pennell. The executive committee 
consists of William J. Beauley, F. G. Cooper, C. B. Falls, Louis 
Fancher, Malvina Hoffman, Wallace Morgan, Herbert Pans, W. A. 
Eogers, John E. Sheridan, Harry Townsend, Frank J. Sheridan, jr., 
Adolph Treidler, H. Devitt Welch, assistant secretary, and C. D. 
Williams. 

The division has recently achieved one paid employee. It has spent 
for salaries $277.51, and $49.61 for other expenses. 



17 
DIVISION OF ADVERTISING. 

The Division of Advertising has just been formed to give the vari-- 
out departments of the Government an organized advertising service 
made up of the volunteer help of all the national advertising agencies, 
in the countr-j^ Among the organizations already enrolled for pa- 
triotic service under the direction of the division "are the Associated 
Advertising Clubs of the World, the Association of National Adver- 
tisers,_ the Associated Business Papers, the Periodical Publishers'^ 
Association, the National Advertising Advisory Board, the Ameri- 
can Association of Advertising Agencies, the Agricultural Publishers'" 
Association, the Bureau of Advertising of the American Newspaper 
Publishers' Association, and several leaders in the fields of poster, 
paint, and car-card advertising. These organizations now form a 
single patriotic organization for the purpose of rendering advertise- 
ing service to the Government in all departments of its war work. 

A board of five Federal directors has been appointed. They are 
William H. Johns (chairman), W. C. D'Arcy, Herbert Houston,. 
O. C. Horn, and L. B. Jones. Plans are now being prepared for the 
effective use of the billboards and the advertising pages of the daily 
and periodical press in campaigns of national publicity. It is- esti- 
mated that $30,000,000 of free space will be devoted to war uses 
during the coming year. 

DIVISION OF REFERENCE. 

The committee is, in large measure, a clearing house for most of the 
suggestions and offers of service that pour in from all sides. Every 
idea is analyzed and reported upon, and not only is time saved for 
heavily burdened departments but hundreds of applicants are given 
speedy and definite information. 

An information bureau has been installed that will meet this need 
in an organized and comprehensive manner. Not only does it prom- 
ise instant and accurate directions in all matters connected with the 
Government but it is gathering complete records with regard to every 
activity of the Government that will be of invaluable service to those 
who write or speak. 

At present the division consists of five paid employees. It haa 
spent $822.50 for salaries and $69 for other expenses. 



ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS. 

It has never been the idea that all effort should be centered in 
Washington, but rather has the committee attempted to stimulate 
group activity and independent energy. Many organizations have 
been brought into being for certain specific purposes, and while pos- 
sessed of absolute independence in every respect, nevertheless main- 
tain a constant and intimate contact with the committee. Among-- 
these may be mentioned such bodies as the American Alliance of 
Labor and Democracy, the League for National Unity, the Friends 



18 

of German Democracy, and various smaller organizations bearing 
upon specific* problems connected with our foreign population. The 
plan is being exteiided rapidly, and it is only a matter of weeks 
before every race group in the United States will have its own war 
campaign organization, each with its own literature, news service, 
and speakers, to drive home the great truths of Americanism. 



THE CABLE CENSORSHIP. 

The rules and regulations of the cable censorship, with sole and 
specific relation to press dispatches, are laid down by the chairman 
of the Committee on Public Information. Incoming messages are 
handled almost automatically, but outgoing dispatches are read with 
expert care to prevent the transmission of matter of value to the 
enemy. 



DIVISION OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. 
« Director, Clayton D. Lee. 

This division keeps accounts for all divisions of the committee's 
work, checking all bills and invoices and paying all indebtedness of 
the committee. 

It is the duty of the director to approve all expenditures and vise 
all accounts of the several divisions and to make detailed monthly 
reports of all financial transactions. 

Under this division are the departments of distribution. These 
place all orders for the printing of books and pamphlets, devise cir- 
culation plans, and address and mail the 100,000 pieces that go out 
every day. In the interests of efficiency and economy, mailing sta- 
tions have been installed igfi New York. 

The division has 125 employees, has spent $26,014.27 in salaries 
and $25,908.54 on other expenses, which include the general expenses 
of the committee. 



FOREIGN PRESS BUREAU. 

Directors, Walter S. Rogers and Ernest Poole. 

The work separates itself into two distinct divisions. From Tuck- 
erton, 1,000 words go out daily through the air to the Eiffel Tower, 
and are relayed from France to Russia, Switzerland, Spain, and 
Italy. The service is caught by our wireless at the Isthmus, and from 
Darien is sent broadcast to Central and South America. Plans are 
being completed for a connection with England that will also serve 
Scandinavia and Holland, and the completion of the station at Cavite 
will permit the transmission of the service to China and Japan via 
San Diego. Where wireless is not possible or when not able to meet 
demands, we employ the cables. 



19 

Mr. Poole's share of the work is concerned with the preparation of 
feature articles from 100 to 1,000 words in length, dealing with 
American life and activities and illustrated by photographs. This 
service goes out by mail, and for this task he has enlisted a staff of 
volunteer writers and publicists and obtained the cooperation of 
libraries and editors. 

The division has a staff of two paid employees. There has been 
spent in salaries $1,313.84, and other expenses have been $431.05, but 
bills contracted for cable service during the month of November have 
not yet been rendered. 

AIRPLANE SERVICE. 

An increasingly important part of the work in foreign countries 
is concerned with the distribution of our printed matter by aircraft. 
Bombardment planes, loaded with leaflets and pamphlets that carry 
the truth to deluded peoples, go regularly over the firing lines and far 
into the lands both on the eastern and western fronts. The success of 
the campaign depends, as a matter of course, upon the number of 
planes that we are able to employ, and I have made a request upon 
the War Department for such number of machines as will permit us 
• to cooperate with the French in the formation of an escadrille. 



DIVISION OF FOREIGN PICTURE SERVICE. 
Director, Jules E. Brulatour. 

Not the least effective weapon in our fight for public opinion iii 
other lands is the motion picture. From every source, and through 
our own manufacture as well, films are gathered that show our social, 
industrial, and war progress, each title carrying with it the message 
of America, the meaning of free institutions, our individual aims 
and ideas, and the manner in which the Nation prepares for fighting. 
Thousands of dollars' worth of film have been donated to this work : 
and our campaigns are now under v/ay in Russia,. Scandinavia, and 
Spain, while expeditions are nearing readiness for dispatch to other 
European countries and to South America, Japan, and Mexico. 

This division also collects and prepares the motion pictures for 
exhibition in the soldiers' houses that the Young Men's Christian 
Association maintains on the various firing lines; and, in addition to 
this, special arrangements are being made with the British, French, 
and Italian Governments for even larger use of our film in connection 
with the fighting forces. 

The division has spent $1,829.32 in salaries and $23,672.77 for all 
other expenses. It has a credit of $14,326 in accounts receivable. 



20 
DISBTJRSEMENTS OF THE COMMITTEE. 

Disbursements of the Committee on Public Information for tvork in the UnitecP 
States from Apr. IJt to Dec. 31, 1911, inclusive. 



Salaries. 



Other ex- 
penses. 



Total. 



A. Executive Division 

B. Division of Civic and Educational Cooperation 

C. Di^nsion of Official Bulletin 

D. Division of Speaking. . ." 

E. Division of Four-Minute Men 

F. Division of News 

G. Division of Syndicate Features 

H. Division of Films 

I. Division of Pictures 

J. Division of Foreign Language Newspapers 

K. Division of Business Management, iacluding general expense 

accounts 

(A) Department of Distribution 

(A-1) Washington Bureau of Circulation 

(A-2) New York Bureau of Circulation 

L. Division of I^abor Publications 

M. Division of New York Branch 

P. Division of Women's War Work 

Q. Division of Reference 

R. Division of Art 

S. Division of Advertising 



S12, 715. 69 
8, 563. 37 
10, 163. 77 
2,306.57 
5, 706. 69 
25, 422. 74 
2, 613. 88 
5, 226. 38 
2, 113. 53 
3, 246. 64 

15, 172. 00 

1,229.67 

9,387.60 

225.00 

8,996.53 

749. 69 

1,090.04 

822.50 

277. 51 

650.00 



$1,174.14 

104,539.20 

103, 399. 52 

1,383.84 

12,813.34 

2, 125. 52 

2, 784. 15 

15, 452. 22 

550. 29 

347. 68 

19,549.62 

593.40 

4,098.62 

1, 666. 90 

30,063.68 

303. 40 

450. 25 

69.00 

49.61 



Total. 



116,678.80 



301, 414. 38 



S13,889.83' 

11.3,102.57 

113, 563. 29' 

3,69Q.41 

18, 519. 0* 

27, 548. 26- 

5,398.03 

20, 678. 60- 

2, 663. 82- 

3, 594. 32- 

34,721.62 

1, 823. 07 

13,486.22- 

1, 891. 90- 

39,060.21 

1,053.09 

1, 540. 29 

891.50 

327. 12- 

650. 00" 



418,093.18- 



Receipts from committee activities (bank deposits and accounts receivable): 

Divi.sions of Publications $7, 813. 67 

Division of Pictures 2, 493. 56 

Division of Films 23,700.00 



Total 34,007.25 

Disbursements of the Committee on Public Information for work in foreign 
countries from Apr. 14 to Dec. SI, 1917, inclusive. 





Salaries. 


Other 
expenses. 


Total. 


0. Foreign educational work: 




S195. 00 

23,672.77 

194.04 

237.01 


S195. 00> 


Division of Foreign Picture Service 


$1, 829. 32 
603. 34 
710. 50 


25, 502. 09- 




797. 3& 




947. 51 






Total '. 


3, 143. 16 


24,298.82 


27, 441. 98- 







Receipts from committee activities (accounts receivable): 

Division of Foreign Picture Service 

Allotments for educational work la Russia and other foreign countries. 



114,326 
640,500 



o 



